


it's your world I wanna live in, it's your ocean I wanna swim in

by blafard



Category: All For The Game - Nora Sakavic
Genre: Boys In Love, Canon Compliant, Domestic Fluff, Established Relationship, I am so soft for them being soft, M/M, Post-Canon, Soft Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard, being soft, so here is my first fic abt them
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-04-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:35:23
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23666986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blafard/pseuds/blafard
Summary: five atypical love languages as moments in Andrew's and Neil's not-relationship
Relationships: Neil Josten/Andrew Minyard
Comments: 10
Kudos: 262





	it's your world I wanna live in, it's your ocean I wanna swim in

**Author's Note:**

> title from "cross your mind" by niall horan
> 
> based on this [post](https://pinkdementors.tumblr.com/tagged/just+midnight+thoughts+.....) by [pinkdementors](https://pinkdementors.tumblr.com) on tumblr

_**i. cut up fruit on a plate** _

Neil is _stressed_.

Which, to be fair, isn't something _new_ , but being a _real_ person, having responsibilities as the co-captain of a college team, a family, friends and an _Andrew_ , as well as a shit ton of coursework is slowly chipping away at Neil's nerves until he can feel them hold on by a thin thread that threatens to snap any moment now.

So, yeah, he's _stressed_ and _acknowledging_ it even!

Bee would call it progress, since the Foxes banned the words ' _I'm fine'_ from being used by Neil, he is finally admitting that not everything _is just fine._

Maybe it is progress, but Neil doesn't have the _fucking_ time to think about that, because maintaining good grades _in order to play exy to stay alive_ is time-consuming enough.

And that's why he finds himself alone on a Saturday after a game the previous night, in the dorm he shares with Andrew and Kevin, working on yet another set of practice problems his professor gave him at the beginning of the week, where he still had plenty of time to complete them but forgot about them in order to focus on more _important_ things, like hanging out with the Foxes and getting pressed against the mattress by Andrew while they lost themselves in each other.

(By now he has recognised the error in his thinking, but he is too proud to admit that he has a problem with time management.)

He would much rather see what Andrew is up to right now, since he hasn't seen the blond since this morning after they had breakfast together, but he can't let his mind stray too far into that certain place it goes into once Andrew crosses his mind, so he takes a deep breath, massages his temples for a few seconds and then ignores how the numbers seem to dance in front of his eyes, while he pretends to focus on completing the last few problems.

He only notices that he has zoned out again, when he hears the door to the dorm being opened and the faint sound of shoes being thrown into a corner of the living room, before the door to their bedroom opens and a tired looking Andrew sticks his head into the opening.

Neil tries to stay focused, he _really_ does, but once the door closes behind Andrew, he can not help himself and turns around with a faint smile on his lips, that has become a regular look whenever Andrew is around.

The blond doesn't acknowledge Neil with more than a quick glance, before he takes some comfortable clothes from the drawer and disappears into the bathroom to change.

Sighing, he turns back and loses himself in a harder problem until he hears the shower cut off.

Five minutes later Andrew leaves the bathroom again, this time dressed in a black hoodie and some sweats Neil is pretty sure are his.

Andrew looks at him for a few seconds, notices the frown between Neil's eyebrows, the dark shadows underneath his eyes, the empty wrapper of a granola bar Neil likely ate hours ago and then leaves the bedroom again.

Neil's just about ready to shove all the books and papers off the table, when Andrew comes back again and places a bowl next to his elbow. Curious, he looks over and notices to his delight, that Andrew cut up some fruit for him.

"Eat, junkie," he says simply, puts a fork on top of Neil's books and then opens the window to smoke one last cigarette before bed.

Andrew tries to ignore the heat crawling up his neck when Neil gives him another one of his soft smiles.

* * *

_**ii. doing work at the same table** _

Andrew doesn't _need_ to study.

It's a simple fact.

With his kind of memory, he never has to read something twice in order to memorize every single bit of information presented to him. He never has to sit down and actually work through a problem or think long about a subject, before a number of ideas pop into his head from books or articles he has read in the past.

He might not _have_ to study, but he does have to sit down and actually write done the ideas he gets, which sucks sometimes, especially when he can't be bothered to put much energy into most of the things he does.

But this time is different.

For one, he has to write an essay about a case they talked about in his criminology lecture which is one of the few he actually attends regularly.

There's also the fact that _Neil_ himself has to work on a Spanish essay he told Andrew about at practice earlier.

Andrew knows how fidgety Neil gets when he has to sit down for a few hours without anything else to occupy him.

Andrew also knows that Neil has pushed off working on this particular essay for an entire week now.

So, taking matters into his own hands, he has put all of their books and papers needed for their work onto the table in the common area and ordered Neil to sit down in front of him before plopping down in his own seat and beginning to work.

And he has to admit that this isn't as _terrible_ as he thought it would turn out to be.

For once in Neil's life he is actually sitting still in his chair and working through the essay like a normal student would. For once, he actually seems _content_ to just sit there and do nothing else for a few hours.

Andrew has already finished his essay twenty minutes ago, but doesn't want to break Neil's focus with standing up and going away, so he just continues sitting there, while he pretends to work on something.

(There's a part of him that knows, that Neil _knows_ he is finished, but pretends he doesn't.)

(And if this working at the same table while doing their own stuff becomes a regular thing, nobody, not even Nicky when he spots them there every Thursday, dares to mention it.)

* * *

**_iii. adjusting someone's collar, brushing off lint on their shoulder, fix their hair_ **

_This is dumb_ , Neil thinks.

"This is dumb," he says aloud a moment later, while Wymack drones on about how they're supposed to behave at those stupid banquets the college insists they have to go to _every fucking year._

Andrew simply hums in affirmation from beside him, quickly squeezes his thigh and then continues to stare at the wall beside Wymack's head.

"Anything more to add, Josten?", his coach asks after he finishes his speech, a warning look on his face.

And actually, _yeah_ , Neil has something to add, but he also doesn't feel like starting a stupid fight over this entire spiel they have going on before every single team outing whenever other colleges are involved, so he simply shrugs and watches as the other Foxes head out of the hotel lobby they're staying at for the entire weekend.

(A weekend he would much rather spend with Andrew in Columbia. _Alone_ if possible, but he has never gotten what he wished for anyways.)

"If you would stop starting a fight whenever we are at one of those banquets, he would stop with the speeches," Andrew reminds him from beside him, before he also begins to follow the others into court that has been transformed into a banquet hall for a day.

"I don't _always_ start a fight."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," the blond responds and heads for the drinks table, where Neil can already spot Kevin talking to Jeremy Knox.

The thing is, he already _knows_ Kevin will tell him all about how nice, and perfect and great Jeremy is as soon as they head back to the hotel, so he decides against joining them and rather follows Andrew, who has already gotten a cold water bottle for Neil and a whiskey for himself.

Grateful, Neil thanks him softly and then surveys the crowd that slowly starts to fill up the hall.

"You think coach would realize that we just left?" he questions, then turns back to Andrew only to find his eyes already on him.

A slow smile creeps onto his mouth and with a certain twinkle in his eyes he says, " _Staring_."

Unimpressed, Andrew rolls his eyes and then reaches forward, slow enough for Neil to back away, which he doesn't _("It's always yes with you, Andrew.")_ , then he quickly adjusts the collar of his shirt and brushes off some lint from the jacket of the suit Neil burrowed.

"I think he'd appreciate it even, because when you're not around, you can't start a fight with that smart mouth of yours." His hand travel up and over Neil's shoulder, slowly brush against Neil's sharp cheekbone, and then he buries his fingers in Neil's to fix his hair, or mess it up even more, Neil can't tell.

"You _like_ my smart mouth... and don't pretend I don't see that slight smirk on your lips whenever I start a fight with that _smart_ mouth of mine," he replies, a wicked grin on his lips. Andrew pushes his face away with another eye roll and then takes a long sip of his drink.

"Keep telling yourself that, Josten."

* * *

**_iv. double comments on Instagram_ **

Instagram is a strange place to Neil.

He doesn't understand _why_ people think it's necessary to post pictures of what they do, or what they look like every few hours.

He has never felt the need to inform any strangers about his whereabouts or what he looks like in that very moment, especially when he considers his past.

Telling someone where he is, used to mean a lot of pain and death usually, so he finds it stupid that his professional team asked him to make an account and post some pictures, because he's apparently too _closed off and your fans want to know things about you,_ _Neil_ _,_ _just_ _post a goddamn picture of your cat for fucks sake._

So, that's what he does.

And Sir is not impressed, because in order to post a picture of her, he has to wake her up and hold her up against his face, and if Sir _hates_ one thing, it's being awoken because of a stupid reason such as taking a picture with her human.

Which is fair. Neil understands her, but if that's what his PR team wants, they'll get it, especially if it means they stop annoying him.

The picture he ultimately posts is of them together, Sir looking unimpressed and Neil downright glaring with the caption _"(s)he's not having it"._ (He thinks he's it's quite clever.) (It's not, but Andrew is not around to tell him that.)

Not even five minutes later his phone is blowing up with likes and comments, so he quickly places it on his coffee table and scratches Sir behind the ears to make it up to her.

A few hours pass before he looks at his phone again and when he does he can't help but smile in that soft way, that is reserved for Andrew and Andrew _only_.

There, right underneath his stupid caption, are two comments by him.

_'you two look ridiculous'_

_'we are also gonna get another cat, josten'_

* * *

**_v. bringing home leftovers_ **

"I'm back!" Neil calls into the living room, as soon as he closes the door behind himself. Then he chucks off his shoes, hangs up his jacket and takes the plastic bag he has put onto the small table in the entry hall, into the kitchen.

Slow footsteps announce Andrew's presence after a few minutes and when he shuffles into the kitchen he looks fucking _exhausted_.

Another night of barely any sleep, riddled with bad memories whenever he did get to close his eyes for more than a few minutes at the time, left its traces on Andrew's face.

He leans against the counter beside Neil, where the latter is currently pulling out a plate from a cabinet above him and gets some cutlery from the drawer they have to organize at some point.

"Nicky has found this really nice breakfast place not too far from here. It opened a few weeks ago, and they had really nice waffles," he says, while he opens a plastic container from the bag, "I thought you'd like them, so I brought some leftovers." _especially since_ _I_ _know you_ _didn't_ _eat_ _anything_ _yet_ , goes unsaid.

Andrew pretends not to notice that leftovers apprently mean perfectly untouched waffles with chocolate sauce and berries and simply accepts the plate Neil prepares for him, before shuffling back into the living room and sinking into the couch with some questionable stains on the cushions.

Neil joins him soon after, a bit of space between him, since he doesn't want to overwhelm Andrew or touch him on accident and Andrew can't put into words how much he ~~loves~~ _hates_ this exy junkie sitting beside him for being so damn _considerate_ without any questions asked.

The plate is finished sooner than Andrew thought he'd manage, and he makes a mental note to head to this breakfast place soon to get some more waffles. In the meantime he reaches over and interlaces their fingers in Neil's lap. A quick squeeze is all the thanks Neil gets and needs.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you liked it! I'd appreciate some feedback <3 thank u for reading!!!


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